English Literature

Contact Donovan Rees or Zach Larsen

British literature and history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on poetry, fiction, and drama.

We usually have a selection of literary works from the STC and Wing period (i.e. before 1701), and a broad range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, particularly the Romantics. We also have a selection of historical manuscripts, prints and broadsides, and works in translation.

Among important works which have passed through our hands are the editor's presentation copy of Milton's Lycidas, Swift's Modest Proposal, the autograph draft of Byron's She walks in beauty, the autograph manuscript of Jane Austen's only play Sir Charles Grandison, Dickens’s copy of Vanity Fair, Trollope's classical library, and, over the years, some fifty Shakespeare First Folios.

  1. VIGER, François.

    De praecipuis graecae dictionis idiotismis...

    London, G. Godbid for William Shrowsberey,...

    Second London edition of this treatise...

    £175

  2. [VIRGIL.]  RAMUS, Petrus (Pierre de la RAMÉE). 

    Georgica, P. Rami … praelectionibus...

    Paris, André Wechel, 1564. 

    Second editions of Ramus’s extensive...

    £950

  3. [WALEY, Arthur.]

    康熙字典 [Kangxi zidian; ‘The Kangxi...

    Shanghai, Dianshizhai for Jiujingzhai,...

    Nineteenth-century Shanghai edition of...

    £1250

  4. WALKER, George.

    The three Spaniards, a Romance …

    London: Printed by Sampson Low; for G....

    First edition, very rare; the very brief...

    £4000

  5. WALKER, George.

    Don Raphael, a Romance …

    London, Printed for G. Walker; and T. Hurst;...

    First edition. ‘In order to satisfy the...

    £3250

  6. WALKER, John.

    Hints for Improvement in the Art of Reading ...

    London, Printed for the Author, and sold...

    First edition. The future lexicographer...

    £650

  7. WALKER, John.

    An economical History of the Hebrides and...

    Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press;...

    First edition. The eminent naturalist John...

    £450

  8. WALLER, Edmund. 

    Poems, &c. written by Mr. Ed. Waller...

    London, Printed by I. N. for Hu. Mosley...

    Second (but first licensed) edition of...

    £850

  9. [WALSH, William.]

    A Funeral Elegy upon the Death of the Queen....

    London, Printed for Jacob Tonson … 1695.

    First edition of Walsh’s elegy on the...

    £350

  10. WALTON, Izaak.

    The Life of Dr. Sanderson, late Bishop...

    London, Printed for Richard Marriott. 1678.

    First edition, the last of Walton’s five...

    £400

  11. WAPPEROM, Jacobus Joannes. 

    Gezangen door J.J. Wapperom. 

    The Hague, 1805. 

    Very rare collection of songs by the Dutch...

    £675

  12. [WARD, Edward, and VOLTAIRE.] 

    The Humourous and Diverting Story of Two...

    6, Punderson’s-Place, Bethnal-Green-Road’,...

    Seemingly unrecorded edition of this humorous...

    £450

  13. [WASHINGTON, George.] PAINE, Thomas.

    An Eulogy on the Life of General George...

    Newburyport, Edmund M. Blunt, 1800.

    First edition of this eulogy on Washington,...

    £250

  14. WATSON, Sheila.

    ‘The Great War, Wyndham Lewis and the...

    The recordings included are three sections...

    £50

  15. [WAX MODELS.] Gaetano PECCI.

    Broadside advertising an itinerant show...

    [Venice], Casali stampatore, [c. 1815].

    A seemingly unrecorded broadside advertising...

    £500

  16. [WESTMINSTER ELECTION.]

    A True and impartial Collection of Pieces,...

    London: Printed for W. Owen … 1749.

    First edition of a compilation of open...

    £750

  17. WHITEHEAD, William.

    Plays and Poems … in two Volumes …

    London, Printed for J. Dodsley … 1774.

    First and only edition of the collected...

    £350

  18. WHITMAN, Walt, and Antonio FRASCONI (illustrator).

    A Whitman Portrait.

    [New York, Spiral Press, 1960.]

    First edition, comprising extracts from...

    £250

  19. WIELAND, Christoph Martin; William SOTHEBY, translator.

    Oberon, a Poem ...

    London, Cadell and Davies, Edwards, Faulder,...

    First octavo edition of Sotheby’s (1757–1833)...

    £500

  20. WISE, Francis.

    A Letter to Dr Mead concerning some Antiquities...

    Oxford, Printed for Thomas Wood … 1738

    First editions. A Letter to Dr Mead...

    £350